Union Loafers - The Best Restaurant In St. Louis

Union Loafers Takeaway. The Crown Jewel Of St. Louis. My favorite St. Louis restaurant. 8/10 Salad. 8.9/10 Sandwiches. 9.1/10 Pizza. 10/10 Sourdough Bread.

The Simone Biles of STL food.

Always order a loaf. Get anything with bread. ~$8 bread. $8 salad. $15 sandwiches. It's expensive. Ask your parents to take you when they come to town. Twenty minutes to an hour for pick up. Ordering pizza can be a pain. Parking is easy on side streets with a three-minute walk. Tip: Try a pizza rosa with chili oil at lunch. Note: Pizza review coming in the future.

Union Loafers Experience Summary

I have had Union Loafers more than any other restaurant in St. Louis. In my opinion, it's the best restaurant in St. Louis by a solid margin.

Every item on the menu is in the top 10% in terms of quality of food you'll ever have.

It's probably the best sourdough bread I've had. It would compete with top pizza places in NJ on pizza taste. The sandwiches are more art than sandwich. And little things like the Gem Salad, pizza rosa, and pretzel would be standalone show stoppers if that's all they sold. They are so good at everything, it almost isn't fair.

The Simone Biles of STL food.

The only downside is that some of the items on the menu are expensive. You're looking at $8 for side salads, $15 for a sandwich, and more for the pizza. That gives the restaurant's overall feel that of an anniversary night more so than a Tuesday lunch.

The light-and-mild sourdough for $7.50 is a steal. For the best sourdough in the country, it's cheaper than a similar loaf at Costco.

That's not to say that it is pretentious or over-the-top elaborate. More so just that you're going to consciously choose to get food from here - you (probably?) can't afford to eat here every day.

Service is excellent; it's just really popular, so I usually order ahead of time via the website. The food can take around twenty minutes to an hour to be ready. I've never eaten in the restaurant. I should.

If you'd let me reminisce a minute. Union Loafers was our pandemic staple. Every Friday morning, we would call at 9 a.m. to reserve our pizza for 5 p.m. It gave us a place to go and something to look forward to every week as a family. Between lunch and dinner, we've had Union Loafers 50+ times in 4 years. Throw in the bread we get from Olive Ovaitaion, and we're pushing 100 times.

The Food At Union Loafers

If Gramophone is the sandwich shop for drunk 20-somethings, Union Loafers is the sandwich shop for mid-career 30-somethings.

This isn't bacon at midnight. You're getting a master-crafted, artisan sandwich from the kind of place you'd wait for your parents to come into town before asking them to take you because it's obviously too expensive for an entry-level business analyst to afford on even a semi-regular basis.

My first experience on the sandwich side was the result of a fat-finger mislick. Reading through the menu, I thought I had clicked on the roast beef sandwich. When I got home from picking it up, it turned out I clicked on the roast beet sandwich.

Besides my first kid, best mistake of my life.

The smoked beet sandwich is a scientific wonder that balances every ingredient's precise quantity and flavor. Besides the bread, I would basically never order anything on this sandwich. Together, it comes together better than the Avengers.

The sandwich is smoked beet, Emmentaler cheese, sauerkraut, thousand islands dressing, and a hard egg on a hoagie roll. The smokiness of the beet mellows out the cheese flavor, which mixes with the tanginess of the sauerkraut and dressing. The egg holds it all together with some mouth feel, and the bread stays firm with a beautiful crust.

Size-wise, it's definitely the smallest sandwich I've tried so far by a pretty big margin. I paired it with a Gem Salad to round out the meal.

When you open the gem salad, it's like walking into an herb garden. The "Fines Herbs" is a mix of thyme, green onion, and/or other sprints out like a runner at a starting line. You become the smell. And, after a brief moment, you look down and notice the toasted breadcrumbs and buttermilk dressing. Throw that on, shake it, and your lunch is complete.

For those following along thus far, I had to order a $15 sandwich and an $8 salad for lunch. That's $23. Add in the $7.50 for the mandatory loaf of bread, the crazy St. Louis city tax, and tip, and I'm sitting at $38.65 for lunch.

If I had breakfast, I could have skipped the salad, but apples to apples, this is the most expensive sandwich yet. Pair that with it being the smallest, and this isn't a value meal.

It's where you want to "bring" your parents.

Union Loafers Atmosphere And Miscellaneous

Union Loafer has a great vibe going on inside and out.

Inside, there are ten or so tables with table service and a bar with seating. It's modern with a big, exposed brick wall. It's cozy without feeling cramped. And definitely hip. If that's what people call it nowadays.

Outside, between the patio and outside seating, there's always a couple of people eating and chatting. The facade fits in well with the gentrifying area around Tower Grove. Across the street, you'll find Indo, one of the best new restaurants in St. Louis I've yet to try, and Olio, one of my favorite date places.

Service has always been splendid. Food is always ready on time. When I went in at 12:30 p.m., maybe ten people were in line, but my bag was ready to go on the counter.

Unfortunately, I've never actually eaten in the restaurant, so I can't comment on the quality of the wait service or timeliness.

Parking At Union Loafers

Parking is simple on the side streets around the restaurant, with, at most, a three-minute walk. I usually drive south from I-64, make the right turn onto McRee at the light, and park on the street there.

That also makes it easy to track back to the highway after grabbing the food to go.

Union Loafers Receipt

Pizza Size And Price Comparisons

Sandwich Size Comparisons